Flip Johnson

This is a statement of opinion, not fact. "Dividends' is very subjective. Trestman, McCoy, and Arians are working with veteran QBs - Cutler, Rivers, and Palmer respectively. Trestman's team was 10-6 last year and had a strong defense. They will do well to get to 10 wins last year and now have a terrible defense and a good offense. Marrone, Bradley, and Chudzinski all inherited open-ended QB situations. Marrone is a step ahead of those guys in that he has identified his guy and will sink or swim. Bradley and Chud made the mistake (in conjunction with their GMs of course) that there was hope for Gabbert or Weeden. They will be drafting in year two. Props to Chip Kelly - no question. He did inherit a very talented offensive squad but he has made Foles a highly efficient QB.

Manziel is a marginal pro prospect. From a tools stand point I see nothing except for his accuracy which seems pretty good. He has quickness but not at a level that will run away from anyone in the NFL. He is more like "quick enough to get himself crushed." I see a small, slight guy with below average arm strength that makes a lot of crazy decisions with the ball and takes advantage of a freakish WR in Mike Evans. He looks like a poor man's Flutie to me.

Spiller on grass: 25 carries, 56 yards, 2.2 yards per carry. Spiller on turf: 124 carries, 622 yards, 5.0 yards per carry. The Bills have a run-first offense, but it is largely a speed/finesse running game. This team can't decide they want to run the ball, at least not on the road. They don't have a QB that can carry them and they don't have a strong enough line in balance to push teams off the ball. That is not a winning formula.

Here's a slight tweak on your rankings that gets at the big picture, which is how far are the Bills from ending the playoff drought with this QB. I'm looking strictly at the AFC. You can argue with my ranking, but I think the general point will be obvious. 1. Manning 2. Brady (these two are in a class by themselves and are coasting into the playoffs every year). 3. Rivers 4. Roethlisberger 5. Flacco 6. Luck (certainly at least two of these QBs will go to the playoffs this year). 7. Alex Smith 8. Dalton (game managers that can be non-threatening playoff teams if supported by exceptional offenses and defenses Teams 9-16 will not go to the playoffs unless something remarkable happens. 9. Ryan Tannehill 10. Fitzpatrick (hard to grade Locker, he may be as high as 7 and TN may have headed to the postseason) 11. EJ Manuel 12. Keenum/Schaub 13. McGloin/Pryor 14. Henne 15. Campbell 16. Geno Smith For Bills fans, the question is really, what is EJ's ceiling. I don't think you can go to the playoffs without a QB that is in the top half of the conference. It already appears that EJ is a low turnover guy. With seasoning he could develop into Alex Smith or David Garrard (in his prime) and if the Bills maintained a strong defense they would become a likely 9-10 win team and would break the playoff drought without becoming a real championship threat. If EJ becomes a top 6 level QB the Bills will start qualifying for the playoffs almost every year, and could develop into a serious contender. I'll also point out that none of the top 8 have suffered an injury this year, while the teams represented from 10-15 have all been forced to play backups because of injury.

It seems like this signing more likely signals the end for Gragg, instead of a shot across the bow at Chandler. Gragg was supposedly an offensively gifted TE and it doesn't look like it will be a priority for the Bills to try to get him more snaps down the stretch. Anyone disagree? I think Chandler/Moeaki could be a nice tandem in '14.

Point totals can be misleading. You are not factoring in field position, time of possession, or number of possessions. For example, the Bills offense scored 31 points last week - but they had 14 offensive possessions. The offense punted 7 times and made 2 turnovers. Additionally, when the offense makes the defense play for 38+ minutes and withstand 14 possessions, it makes it possible to make a lot of good plays and still give up 34 points.

Pettine made Maybin semi-productive for a short time, so I'm tempering my enthusiasm for Hughes. However, I give kudos to the FO for swapping an essentially useless player in Shepherd for a guy who has been really productive in this scheme.

They need depth at HB in 2014. That position is difficult to plan for because it is always fragile and yet most teams don't like to spend high draft picks for their running game. Choice wasn't going to be a long term answer, so they may get a look at Wingo and see if they like him or need to be thinking about spending a mid-round pick in next year's draft to beef up the running game.

I dislike the term "rebuild." As another poster said, the Sabres are rebuilding. It is the NFL and the time to win is always NOW. That is why we are still talking about the playoffs. That said, the Bills are young, have a rookie HC, and a rookie QB. There is reason to believe that they will be better next year, but that can never be an an excuse for not winning in the present. I love that Marrone has said that he doesn't believe that he has time.

Put it this way - the Bills will likely be favored (for I believe the first time this year) by Vegas in three of the final five games (vs. ATL, @Jax, vs. Miami). They will be road dogs at Tampa and at New England.

Totally agree - a focused, winning performance would be a sign of the type of culture Marrone is building.

Glennon's YPA is below 6.2. For a guy that has played from behind and plays almost all of his games in terrific (or controlled) weather conditions, that is not too impressive.

Cosell is in the opinion business. Cowherd doesn't book these guys for nuance.

He does, and whether he is a UDFA or a late round pick, I'd like to see him in Orchard Park. UB has three NFL players on their roster in Mack, Neutz, and Oliver. Pretty impressive.

I thought this thread was about TJ Graham and not the definition of "olympic speed." For as much negativity as there has been about Graham, I haven't noticed that Marrone is particularly critical. Graham should be evaluated on his own merits not compared to Goodwin. We may have found an elite deep threat in Goodwin. If so, kudos to the FO, but it should not diminish Graham per se. I see the Bills developing a WR corps not unlike what Payton has done in New Orleans. They have had a lot of high end talent and a lot of depth at WR, but historically it has been Colston (and now Graham) who has put up the big numbers. TJ could develop into a guy that catches 35-40 balls a year with a 15.0 - 17.0 YPC and if you combine that with production from SJ, Goodwin, Woods, and the athletic TE we all know this team needs … well, then you have a passing game.

His NFL career may be over, but he'll be able to say that in his career he picked Brady, Luck, and Tebow.

Very likely in my opinion. If you look at the mix of Buffalo, Miami, NYJ, Pitt, Baltimore, Cleveland, SD, and Oakland, I would say the two strongest teams are the Bills and Steelers. Pittsburgh is a tough, veteran team that got off to a slow start but has won 4 of 6. They are more than capable of a strong finish. The Bills were snakebitten by QB injuries and would otherwise have at least six wins. I give a little respect to Baltimore but this looks like a classic post Super Bowl letdown year. Those other teams are not doing anything to indicate a pending run.

The amount of media attention that the Jets get gives that team a false sense of relevance. They were manhandled yesterday. Nelson needs to accomplish something before he gets to talk about revenge. Chan and Fitz made that kid.

Boxers like to talk about how shots to the body slowly take the life out of the fighter. The hit that Dareus put in Gino in the first series is the type of shot that makes a guy want to shut it down for the day.

Gino has already made 20 turnovers. I would consider him the weakest QB in the AFC, along with Chad Henne. Gino's best friends this season have been: A) Lavonte David B) A great defensive line C) Justin Rogers The Jets have a -86 point differential. The only team in the AFC with a worse differential is Jacksonville. The idea that he is piloting a playoff contender is a mirage.

Marrone can say "next man up" until he is blue in the face - and I am glad that he doesn't make excuses. But the Bills lost wk. 3 simply because Justin Rogers was playing corner.

In other words, you think Easley is far superior to Graham, yet Marrone, Hackett, and Hilliard are blind to this reality and are foolishly allowing him to languish on the bench?

Personally, I am impressed that he has become so good on Special Teams. I give Easley credit after his health concerns to carve out a career in the NFL. A high level STer justifies a 4th round pick. Interesting in retrospect that Spiller, Carrington, and Easley all became contributors although none were ready and/or healthy to do much in year 1. That aside, the notion that all Easley needs is an opportunity to become an impact WR is questionable at best. If it was going to happen it would have by now.

It is the 4th year of his pro career. Marcus Easley is good on Special Teams. There is no next step coming.

Look at the Jets road performances so far. With the exception of the MNF dome game, they are nightmarish on offense. Geno is not coming to Buffalo and winning this game. Not happening.